Call Lightning 5e - D&D 5th Edition Spell Book
Call Lightning 5e Spell Effects
3rd-level evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: 120 feet
Components: V, S
Duration: Concentration, up to 10 minutes
A storm cloud appears in the shape of a cylinder that is 10 feet tall with a 60-foot radius, centered on a point you can see within range directly above you. The spell fails if you can't see a point in the air where the storm cloud could appear (for example, if you are in a room that can't accommodate the cloud).
When you cast the spell, choose a point you can see under the cloud. A bolt of lightning flashes down from the cloud to that point. Each creature within 5 feet of that point must make a Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 3d10 lightning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. On each of your turns until the spell ends, you can use your action to call down lightning in this way again, targeting the same point or a different one.
If you are outdoors in stormy conditions when you cast this spell, the spell gives you control over the existing storm instead of creating a new one. Under such conditions, the spell's damage increases by 1d10.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th or higher level, the damage increases by 1d10 for each slot level above 3rd.
All information on Call Lightning 5e comes from the DnD Player's Handbook.
Classes That Can Cast Call Lightning 5e
Of all classes in the Player's Handbook, only druids gain access to casting call lightning 5e. Yes, call lightning is purely a druid spell.
You would think that sorcerers, wizards, and even nature domain clerics should perhaps be able to cast the spell, but the official rules say otherwise.
Call Lightning Spell Effectiveness
| Damage | 3rd-Level Spell | 4th-Level Spell | 5th-Level Spell | 6th-Level Spell | 7th-Level Spell | 8th-Level Spell | 9th-Level Spell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damage Dice | 3d10 | 4d10 | 5d10 | 6d10 | 7d10 | 8d10 | 9d10 |
| Average Damage | 16.5 | 22 | 27.5 | 33 | 38.5 | 44 | 49.5 |
| 3-Target Damage | 49 | 66 | 82 | 99 | 115 | 132 | 148 |
| Average Fighter DPR | 19 | 23 | 27 | 30.5 | 34 | 37.5 | 41 |
Call Lightning Spell Damage
This table provides information on the damage that Call Lightning 5e could do, as compared to a fighter of a similar level (based on the level it would take to cast each spell level). Average fighter DPR refers to their damage per round, which is roughly calculated prior to factoring in hit chance. Also, note that call lightning could easily hit more (or less) than the 3-target damage numbers shown above.
Call Lightning 5e Usefulness
Every spell in D&D 5e that can hit multiple targets has the potential to be absolutely game-breaking when it's cast in the right situation. Try using call lightning in the following ways to maximize its usefulness for you.
- If you're outside, and see multiple enemies clumped together - at least 2, but preferably 3 or more - blast them with call lightning for some huge damage.
- Cast call lightning 5e on any enemies who (somehow) have lightning vulnerability, to double your damage.
- Since you can call down lightning bolts using this spell, every round, for no additional spell slots, try using it when you're besieged. That is, if your enemy has to attack into your position, then the cloud you created can continue to rain down lightning damage upon them.
- For additional value, cast call lightning 5e whenever you happen to be fighting in a storm. Since the spell deals an additional 1d10 damage in stormy weather, this is an excellent time to go crazy with lightning.
- Finally, cast call lightning against enemies with low Dexterity save scores. The higher your hit chance with call lightning 5e, the less likely you are to have your spell damage halved from successful saving throws.
Lightning Damage Resistances, Immunities, and Vulnerabilities
When using call lightning 5e, it's worth knowing ahead of time that in the DnD Monster Manual, there are 35 monsters with lightning damage resistance, 10 monsters with lightning damage immunity, and yes - 0 monsters with lightning damage vulnerability.
Of course, you may come across situations where your dungeon master throws in enemies who have lightning damage vulnerability, but aside from that, call lightning only has liabilities. As with spells like acid splash 5e and burning hands 5e, where tons of monsters have resistance, be very careful about using call lightning on enemies. The worst thing you can have happen is to only deal half damage - or even no damage - against enemies, from casting your 3rd-level spell.
Combine Call Lightning with the Following Spells
Pretty much every damage-based spell becomes more powerful when combined with other spells. Try out some of these high-powered mixtures for some spectacular results.
- Alarm 5e: this one's a little more for fun than optimization. But just imagine setting up the alarm spell while you sleep outdoors. If a group of goblins comes to ambush you, not only are they surprised when your party is already awake, but they'll be absolutely stunned to see the flashing light of an incoming lightning bolt.
- Bane 5e: as with basically every damage spell in D&D, casting bane on your target to lower their saving throw by 1d4 before crushing them with lightning is a major plus. Note that since bane, like call lightning, is also a concentration spell, you'll need to have an ally to set up this combo.
- Haste 5e: since call lightning 5e says that "on each of your turns until the spell ends, you can use your action to call down lightning," it isn't perfectly clear if the limit of lightning bolts is once per turn, or once per action you spend. If the limit is actually actions spent, then having haste maintained on you by an ally actually allows you to effectively double-cast call lightning each turn, causing really massive damage into entire groups of enemies. In any case, this is one where you should strongly consider asking your dungeon master for backup, to let you have some lightning-based fun.
Call Lightning 5e Counters
As with any spell that requires concentration, you have to be cautious about taking damage, or else the spell effect could fade. Also, just note that any enemy who has silence 5e can prevent you from casting call lightning. Meanwhile, enemies affected by Bless 5e have +1d4 on their Dexterity saving throws, making call lighting less likely to hit for full damage.
Perhaps one of the biggest counters to call lightning 5e is that enemies can simply leave the 60-foot radius area that the cloud covers. Once enemies are out of that area, they can no longer be targeted by that same call lightning spell.
Call Lightning-Type Spells in Eternity TTRPG
In the Eternity TTRPG Game System, there are actually a number of spells very similar in nature to Call Lightning 5e. I've provided one example below, in case you're interested in other Games Like DnD which you may not have heard about before.
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Author - Jacob Tegtman
Dear reader, I hope you enjoyed this article. Tabletop gaming has been a passion of mine since I was 6 years old. I've played just about every game from Dungeons and Dragons to video games like Final Fantasy. These games have inspired me, made me laugh, made me cry, and brought me endless hours of enjoyment.
I started Eternity TTRPG - and the indie tabletop game that goes along with it (Eternity Shop) - to share my love of gaming with others. I believe that in our technology-driven age, tabletop games help bring a sense of magic and community back into our world.
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Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wu7xicNd6k Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG YouTube channel, where I cover different happenings in the tabletop role-playing universe, as well as just other topics that I find interesting. Um, this go around, I wanna go back into The Crooked Moon. So my husband did a little bit of coverage on this a while back, but I'm gonna circle back to it. Um, and I wanna look at a couple of their races. So the thing about the character you pick and the class, the race, all of that stuff lends itself to building the story around your character and how they tie into the party, the world, and what their, like, internal goals could be. So three of the races that are in Crooked Moon, in my opinion, can make some really terrifying characters. So to jump in with these three races that I found through Crooked Moon, it's gonna be your Curseborn, [00:01:00] Graveborn, and your Plagueborn. Okay? So all three of those already have a very interesting ring to it, and immediately I started thinking is how can these races tie into an overarching story and a personal story? So jumping right into the Curseborn, and my idea with the Curseborn, and I'm pretty sure it's very accurate, is with a Curseborn, I'm thinking the classic, like, werewolf story, and under a full moon, I turn into a terrifying monster and that kind of thing. So with that , um, I wonder is what is this relationship with the character to the curse? So how is the character potentially using their curse, and how is the curse affecting the people around them? And there are so many ways you can take that. So for example, they could be actively [00:02:00] suppressing their monstrous nature and trying to work against it and being ashamed of it. And the other side of that is what if they embrace it and think that everyone is wrong for fearing them, and there, there's no reason to fear them? Um, other side, you know, is when they take on their cursed form and everything, what if they've hurt someone before and are terrified they're gonna hurt someone again? Um, what if they don't actually have any recollection of what happens when they transform? And then what if their family, like it could be a familial curse, and their family has taught them that their curse is something to be ashamed of and not something to embrace. So you have a lot of interpersonal drama going on there, um, that can just lead to overarching stories in the party. Like, what if there's a lot of distrust from the party because of your curse? What if villagers and townspeople refuse you entry somewhere because you have some kind of mark of the curse? And then what [00:03:00] if the party has to decide if they're gonna defend you or not based on all of that? And then on top of that, what if you become the person that everyone expects to betray them? So what if you play into that, or you spend your entire campaign deciding, like, "Hey, I'm not the bad guy. Quit thinking I am." Real quick to interrupt. Eternity TTRPG is releasing a card game battler which emulates combat from the D&D tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities, which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our pre-sales page live now, packed with details. No payment info needed. Just let us know if you want an email when the product becomes available. [00:04:00] Now, back to your video Moving on to Graveborn. So the way that I think of Graveborn is, like, someone has already passed and they're rising from the dead. They're, like, undead in my mind. So with that going on in your head, you could have this whole idea of, what if I already died? Or maybe they just were never cognizant of that in the first place, and they think that this skeletal form is all that they are. Um, maybe they aren't afraid of dying because they've already died, right? Um, so then you start to ask questions about your past life like who-- what happened so that they passed, right? Who did that to them? Did they deserve it? Were there loved ones that buried them? Were they mourned? Why did they come back? How did they [00:05:00] come back? Um, so really cool ideas with this kind of race is maybe they become, like, a grave keeper, and now they protect all of these different grave sites. And as a party, you're trying to convince this, um, Graveborn to come with you for some greater plan, right? Um, another idea that we can look at is this whole I'm not supposed to be here. I already lived my life, so what do I do next kind of thing. Why did I come back, right? So definitely some different ideas there with the Graveborn, and I think it's a really scary idea when you're like, "Hey, I already lived my life. Why am I here again?" Um, last one I'm gonna cover is the Plagueborn, and in the back of my mind what I have playing is, like in World of Warcraft, there is the Abomination that has like the stench that comes off of them, and then that stench kind of infects everything [00:06:00] around it, right? The plague. Um, so this is definitely a horror concept, right? And it's this idea of disease, contamination, and fear spreading, right? It's something you can't control. You have no control over it happening, so what do you play them as? Because if you have no control of the bad thing, are they really evil? And do you play them as evil? Okay. So different concepts with this could be like a plague doctor and the Plagueborn could become the healer, okay? Because they're so used to being around these diseases, they can't catch them, and that kind of idea, so how do they help everyone else with this contamination going on? Um, of course, there's the idea of the immune one, um, because you're the one spreading everything, how can you get sick, right? Um, and then of course there is, like, a walking biohazard going on where everywhere you go, you're gonna [00:07:00] infect the people around you. So how do you work with a party with that going on? Um, because the people are gonna get sick, animals are gonna behave strangely. And then you could potentially create items in the world that you're constantly trying to find to suppress the contamination, right? Um, but where do you go from there, right? So if you're not really evil but your existence hurts people, what do you do? Okay. So with all three of those, right, you have the Curseborn, which is fearing what you might become with the monster inside you. You have the Graveborn because you fear what you already are. You're already gone, past, right? And the Plagueborn is you fear what you might be doing to others, so there's a monster that's spreading within you, around you. So with all of that being said, that's why I think these three are so much more interesting than just being these, like, [00:08:00] monster races. They have these really in-depth stories that you can flesh out in a campaign, and it's a really, a terrifying character that could potentially be really misunderstood. Um, with all of that being said, I know there are some more, um, Crooked Moon races that can be covered, and I will be making my way through those. Um, you can always check what we've already covered, and we're gonna just loop around and get through them all eventually. So after all of that, would you trust any of these three characters to do anything for you, stand with you, resurrect you, heal you? Um, or would you just be, like, an ignorant villager and do nothing for them? Let me know in the comments. Like, comment, subscribe. Let us know how we're doing. Give us any ideas you'd like to hear about, and we'll catch you next time. Bye.
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://youtu.be/XjrHg-Eexds Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Eternity TTRPG YouTube channel, where I cover different happenings in the tabletop role-playing universe, as well as talk about the game that we have been working on, um, with the Eternity TTRPG. So we have been covering all nine of the races that are in the Eternity world, and we only have two left, so I'm gonna cover those two today. It's gonna be the Esper and the Stoneborn. These two are my personal favorites because they were the races of my first two characters. So hopping right in with the Esper. The Esper can actually be any race, um, because they're a part of a world incident. Okay, so this world incident is that a star fell to the world of Eternity. And when this star fell, it let [00:01:00] off all of this magic stardust and just covered the skin of the beings that were there. So if you were a human that was there, you would be covered in now these, like, runic constellation kind of tattoos, right? So that could happen to humans, Jadori, Treants, um, Aeteri, Empyrean, if you've been following along for a while and know those other races, right? So the thing about Esper is because they're covered in all of this magical stardust, they have really high magic casting abilities, right? So they're gonna be really good in your classes that focus on that casting. I personally played a summoner with this class the first time, which a summoner, you get to have a familiar with you, and I chose a dragon, and it was all about, like, buffing that dragon. So my idea was that this star being [00:02:00] was channeling all of the stardust energy into the dragon and making it stronger, bigger, faster, and hit harder. Um, it was a really fun character to play and a really cool take on an idea, right? Um, of course, there are a lot of ideas that you can go with with this, um, star incident that happened and how to interpret that into your world, into, um, how your character roleplays and everything, because maybe you're an astronomer that wants to understand what happened and why did the star fall from the sky. Real quick to interrupt. Eternity TTRPG is releasing a card game battler which emulates combat from the D&D tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities, which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's [00:03:00] characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our pre-sales page live now, packed with details. No payment info needed. Just let us know if you want an email when the product becomes available. Now, back to your video switching gears to the Stoneborn. So like I said, this was the other class that I played right when I first started playing this roleplaying game. And Stoneborn, like the Esper, can be any existing race. So they had a world incident happen to them, and they can be any existing race because of this world incident. So once again, human, Jadori, Treant, Ateri, Empyrean. Okay? So with Stoneborn, what happened with them is think of like this group of miners went into a cave near a volcano that they didn't realize was a volcano and they're [00:04:00] mining, mining, they have their different veins of, um, geological items that they're going after and one of them strikes just right into one of these veins and makes the volcano erupt and in this eruption there is this, um, organic material that explodes out and this organic material embeds itself into these miners that were there and along with the miners anybody that was in close proximity, um, just outside of this dormant volcano, right? So what this does now is that these people that were infected with the, um, organic stone material is now they crave eating stones, they crave eating rocks, okay? Any kind of rock and based on that rock is what their [00:05:00] being turns into. So if one of these races, people that decided to eat rocks decided to have volcanic rocks, they would have this volcanic kind of monstrous body. Um, however, let's say that a human thief wanted to eat the diamonds they were stealing, they would start to have diamonds appear all over their skin and eventually turn into a diamond. So it's a really cool idea that you can work with, with this idea of shape-shifting and how does the rock change my body and then it leads to the storylines of like, well, how far can this go with the rocks and did I have to be there at that volcanic eruption to become this or does it pass down through generations and what happens towards the end of Stoneborn's life? Um, it is speculated in lore that they actually become statues [00:06:00] based on all of the rock that they've consumed. Um, so is there a reversal for that or is there just a completely different story that needs to be fleshed out? Um, with the Stoneborn being, um, you know, made of rock, like a box of rocks, um, they have very high strength because rocks typically are very hard to break, right? So this idea with really high strength makes them very good as like your berserker classes, your thief, your assassin. Um, I personally played this, um, race as a, um As a mixed class, that was a caster/um, melee fighter, and it turned out really good. It was really fun. It's actually one of my favorite characters. I always thought that my, um, Stoneborn was a human that ate, like, icy rocks, so they were blue and frosted and really cool, right? I can still picture that in my mind, and that was a campaign that I wish had finished, [00:07:00] but it didn't. Maybe someday I will go back to that character, though. So that wraps up all nine of our races that we have in the world of Eternity. Um, in upcoming videos, I do hope to go over all of the classes now. There are 30 classes in this game that I will have to get through, so it's gonna take a while, especially with sprinkling in other stuff going on in the tabletop roleplaying community because I know you all aren't here just for the Eternity game. You're here for other tabletop news. So stay tuned, comment, like, subscribe. Let us know how we're doing, um, and we'll keep you updated. Have a good one. Bye.
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CgZalFW8U8 Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG YouTube channel, uh, where I sometimes go over the happenings with Eternity, but I also cover things in the tabletop role-playing world. If you saw our last video, I was talking about the World of Warcraft leaks related to Dungeons and Dragons. Um, Gen Con did happen this weekend, and it turns out that is now confirmed. D&D is having a crossover with World of Warcraft, but this also brings up a lot of ideas that were revealed and what is happening now in the Dungeons and Dragons universe. So with that in mind, let's hop right into it, okay? So as you know, in the last video, I covered the leak with the World of Warcraft, Dungeons and Dragons crossover, and that was a leak from Roll20, which obviously is very ingrained with what Dungeons and Dragons is doing, and it ended up being very accurate, um, [00:01:00] being that we are going to get a campaign setting from World of Warcraft. We're gonna be getting all 13 original classes from World of Warcraft, and we're gonna see what happens there. From everything that I saw in my research that I was doing, is that we're gonna be seeing a campaign from the Icecrown Citadel, which is gonna be, you know, Arthas' world, um, Arthas being one of the big world bos- bosses from Wrath of the Lich King. So I think that'll be something really neat to be looking into. I think we're also gonna be getting some minis that are gonna be, um, supportive in that, um, seeing all the classic, you know, Alliance races, Horde races, and all of their classes. So not really what I was necessarily hoping to see because I think they could have done a lot more with it. But I also think it's gonna bring in a lot of people that [00:02:00] are World of Warcraft fans and, you know, really liked the classic feel of Wrath of the Lich King. Um, the other thing that I saw was a miniature for Illidan. So I don't know if we're gonna be getting anything from his time in the World of Warcraft lore. But given that we saw minis for it, I could see something happening there too real quick to interrupt. Eternity TTRPG is releasing a card game battler which emulates combat from the D&D tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities, which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our pre-sales page live now, packed with details. No payment [00:03:00] info needed. Just let us know if you want an email when the product becomes available. Now, back to your video so with this crossover of D&D into World of Warcraft, it brings up the idea of the Universes Beyond initiative. So I've seen this in Magic: The Gathering. I think they've-- Magic: The Gathering has done this the most, if not the only one that's done it so far, is this, um, crossover of worlds, right? So Magic: The Gathering did a crossover with Final Fantasy, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Spider-Man, and it brought in those crowds as far as the collecting side of it. I think the playing side of it a little bit too, because, you know, you see your classic characters that you like. But Magic: The Gathering did it and now it looks like D&D is doing it. So D&D obviously did it with World of Warcraft, and they're talking about doing it with Star Wars. Um, [00:04:00] so if you're a big Star Wars fan, this is gonna be another way to get into D&D, I guess. Um, what we know about the Star Wars, um, products that are coming to D&D is that details are super limited, but we know that it's focusing on the Rebellion era. So if that is your thing, that is great for you. Um, personally, I'm not a Star Wars fan, but I've watched the movies. I don't feel like I know enough about that universe. Um, so also from D&D, we had the idea that some of the classic settings are returning, like Grayhawk and Dark Sun. Um, once again, I don't know much about D&D because tabletops, uh, were first introduced to me five years ago, mostly through my husband's game, Eternity. So, you know, I read this stuff, but I don't personally know much about it. Um, so you have, like I said, Universes Beyond coming. You have some of these classic settings returning, but you don't really-- [00:05:00] I mean, until we see it, we don't really know what it's gonna be. Um, so with not being able to actually see what's going on and just having this speculation, right, I think it's creating a divide in the community of tabletop of D&D because you have, you know, your fans that are excited to see the crossovers happening with their classic things that they like, like World of Warcraft, Star Wars, right? But then it calls into question of are we running out of ideas? Is the tabletop world running out of ideas or are we just redefining what tabletop is? I was having a conversation, um, just a couple days ago about what tabletop really is and what I see it as. And, you know, I see it as the great idea of imagination. Um, SpongeBob reference there if you didn't get it. But [00:06:00] um, you're just getting to have your imagination blossom as an adult rather than keep it all when you're a kid playing with your, you know, Barbie dolls or race cars or monster trucks, you know? So as an adult with D&D, you're just diving into these other worlds that maybe you wish were real or you wish you could be a part of. But it feels strange because you're an adult, so you call it D&D, and it makes you feel a little bit better, right? Um, but anyway, that's... I just, I think D&D is all about this idea of getting your imagination to roam wild. So if you're gonna be doing that, then let it roam. And if you enjoy it from the World of Warcraft standpoint, Star Wars standpoint, or as I mentioned, the, uh, Avatar: The Last Airbender or Final Fantasy, then let it roll and [00:07:00] let it happen. And if it makes you happy, then great. Um, because I just, I think there are so many things in this world that has already been thought of, but if you get to think about it from your standpoint, then there's more that you get to do. So go be in those worlds and go have fun with it, and we'll see what happens with all of these new releases coming out and what D&D is trying to do for the community. As always, thank you for watching. Um, make sure you drop any questions below, comments, uh, like, subscribe, all that good stuff. Um, let us know what you wanna hear, if you wanna know more opinions, um, and just we'll try to keep it going with all the happenings in the tabletop universe, you know. Have a good one. Bye.